Mobile courts empowered to announce sentences under Safe Food Act

The government will now be able to operate mobile courts to ensure that citizens get safe food. The home ministry updated the Schedule 29 of the Mobile Courts Act to include the Safe Food Act-2013 in it. An order, signed by ministry’s Senior Secretary Md Mozammel Haque Khan, was issued to this effect on June 11. The latest move has empowered the mobile courts to announce sentences under the Safe Food Act. Food Minister Qamrul Islam had earlier told media that the government would issue gazette notification to make different courts in the country as ‘safe food courts.’ The government enforced the Act on February 1, stipulating highest five years imprisonment and Tk2 million fines for food adulteration. On October 7, 2013, the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) passed the relevant bill, according to bdnews24.com.